21 March, 2008

I think I'm sophisticated'cos I'm living my life a good homo sapiens.But all around me ev'rybody's multiplying

And they're walking round like flies man:So I'm no better than the animalsSitting in the cages in the zoo man

'cos compared to the flowers and the birdsAnd the treesI am an APEMAN.I think I'm so educated and I'm so civilised

'cos strict vegetarian. And with the over populationAnd inflation and starvation crazy politicans.I don't feel safe in this worldNo more don't want to die in a nuclear war.I want to sail away to a distant shoreAnd make like an APEMAN.

I'm an APEMANI'm an APEAPE MANOh, I'm an APE MAN.I'm a king-kong manI'm a voodoo manOh, I'm a APE MAN.

'cos compared to the sun that sits in the skyCompared to the clouds as they roll byCompared to the bugs and the spiders and fliesI am an APE MAN. Lalalala...

In man's evolution he has createdThe cities and the motor traffic rumble

But give me half a chance and I'd be takingClothes and living in the jungle.But the only time that I feel at easeSwinging up and down in a coconut tree.Oh, what alife of luxury to be like an APE MAN.

I'm an APE MANI'm an APEAPE MANOh, I'm an APE MAN.I'm a king-kong manI'm a voodoo manOh, I'm a Ape MAN.I look out of the window, but I can't see the sky'cos air polution is a fogging up my eyesI want to get out of this city aliveAnd make like an APE MAN.

I'll be your Tarzanyou'll be my JaneI'll keep you warm and you'll keep me saneWe'll sit in the trees and eat bananasAll day just like an APE MAN.

A "call of the wild", a humoristic imaginary escape and reverse evolution in order to save ourselves from the dangers, stress, loss of freedom and uncertainty of the based in technology and consumerism civilization

"20th Century Man" album: Muswell Hillbillies, 1971

This is the age of machinery, A mechanical nightmare, The wonderful world of technology, Napalm hydrogen bombs biological warfare,

This is the twentieth century, But too much aggravation It's the age of insanity, What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem.

Ain't got no ambition, I'm just disillusioned I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here. My mama said she can't understand me She can't see my motivation Just give me some security, I'm a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century.

You keep all your smart modern writers Give me William Shakespeare You keep all your smart modern painters I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough,

Girl we gotta get out of here We gotta find a solution I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here.

I was born in a welfare state Ruled by bureaucracy Controlled by civil servants And people dressed in grey Got no privacy got no liberty Cos the twentieth century people Took it all away from me.

Don't wanna get myself shot down By some trigger happy policeman, Gotta keep a hold on my sanity I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna die here.

My mama says she can't understand me She can't see my motivation Ain't got no security, I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.

This is the twentieth century But too much aggravation This is the edge of insanity I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.

The same theme as Apeman but now described in a dramatic and reppessing way. The heavy urbanizing and polluted environment, the threat of the uncontrolled development of technology, the everyday stress make young people anxious and with the need for escape.

"Mountain Woman" album: Muswell Hillbillies, 1971

They lived together in a dirty old shack At the edge of the black rocky mountain And they drank mountain dew and they lived on the food That they grew at the side of the mountain

She's a mountain woman, he's her mountain man They live their lives down the valley She's a mountain woman, he's her mountain man Uneducated but they're happy

Mountain woman couldn't read nor write But she knew good from evil, she know wrong from right When the government tried to buy her water rights Her intuition was her only guide

She's a mountain woman, he's her mountain man They live their lives by the valley She's a mountain woman, he's her mountain man Uneducated but they're happy

Spend my life with my mountain woman We're uneducated by we're happy

The civil servant used compulsory purchase To acquire the valley for the nation They'll dig up the land, they're gonna make a dam And build a hydroelectric power station

And now she lives on the 33rd floor Of a man-made concrete mountain She got an elevator and refrigerator And an automobile to run around in

Fast talkin' lawyers from the government Went and beat proud mountain woman down Hey mountain woman, take your mountain man They took your land and flood your valley

A song about a "Mountain woman", probably an Indian woman, or a resident from an imaginary untouched by civilization mountainous village. No need to read or write, but she knows exactly what she wants full with deeper natural senses and happiness. But the state took and destroyed her natural land for developing purposes (Dam,electric power, etc ) and now she lived in concrete urban "mountains" as an anonymous consumer of facilities of "civilization"

about us

We live in Thessaloniki, Greece and we are members of the ecological movement of the city, critical supporters of the European Greens and of course rock music fans. We created this blog with the ambition to collect as many lyrics of rock music songs that refer to ecology and environment as possible. We also put link for direct listening when this is possible.We prefer to add our comments to each song (about their history, their content, their connection to related ecological movements or ecological thought currents and so on) but we also cite widely accepted comments from places like wikipedia or allmusic, to support our views.
We would apreciate (in fact we encourage!) any visitor who has something more to say, or to add forgotten or not so popular lyrics, or to report broken ling for direct listening of a song. We also welcome comments on the proposed connections of the lyrics with the various aspects of ecological thought. We've made a start with the decade of 60s and we try to cover any decade of rock history.